Brad Gallaway takes another look at Onimusha 2, and says:
"The first half or so of the game moves a hell of a lot faster than Onimusha: Warlords ever did due to the reduced number of locked doors and item-based puzzles. With fewer barriers, your weapons no longer need to pull double duty as magical keys. That change eliminates a lot of time spent leveling up, hunting down doodads, and backtracking in general."
The rest of the review is available for your perusal at
http://www.gamecritics.com/review/onimusha2/main.php